WUEKE COPPIES ARE BkED. 25 I 



Lancashire, and the pubHshed Hsts of fixtures for one year, held under the management of 

 the " United Canary-Showers' Association," gives Oldham, Staleybridge, Rochdale, Ashton-undcr- 

 Lyne, Stockport, Middleton, Todmorden, and Manchester as the towns in which exhibitions 

 are authorised to be held during nine consecutive months, commencing in June for unmoulted 

 or first-feather birds, and in November for moulted specimens, each show being held at a 

 "house," which, with the name of the host, is duly announced. It must not be supposed that 

 this organised system of home-and-home shows is due to any want of a wider spirit of emulation. 

 It is simply an old custom in harmony with the tastes and habits of the members of the.ie clubs 

 to whom these weekly gatherings are fraught with as much interest as if the arena were the 

 All-England platform. Their tendency, however, is to keep the bird confined within narrow 

 limits and is a great bar to increasing its popularity. But though the Lancashire breeder fights 

 in a small ring, he fights none the less determinedly. He is opposed to innovations, and, as 

 an old fancier once remarked of this system of home-shows, " it has done for forty years, and 

 why not till the end of time .' " Carried out in this spirit, the effect of home-shows would 

 be that to the end of time this King among Canaries would hold its court in Lancashire and 

 nowhere else ; but there are signs that this home exclusiveness will not last another forty years. 

 All-England shows on a large scale are gaining ground in the county, and the bird is gradually 

 coming under the notice of breeders generally. We have reason to believe, also, that there 

 is a strong desire on the part of the thinking portion of its patrons to remove it into a healthier 

 atmosphere than that which has " done for forty years." The home-shows, however, have their 

 good side ; they are meetings of breeders, as distinguished from mere exhibitors, and they are 

 also the strongholds of the Fancy as at present constituted ; " and if they are held in the long- 

 room of some 'house' where the landlord adds his five pounds to the prize-money, we must 

 provide something better before we find too much fault with the only arrangement the working 

 man is familiar with." So remarked a Coppy breeder and social economist to us. 



But our bird is none the less interesting on account of some of its surroundings. X/e 

 are glad to be able to place to its credit, that rough and horny hands are attracted by it 

 rather than by more questionable pursuits. In stature it is the giant of the family, standing 

 almost a full head and shoulders above any of its fellows. Length and massive proportions, 

 a large crest, and a bold, defiant, erect stand are its characteristic traits, of which we will 

 briefly treat in detail, merely premising that the Plainhead is the non-crested form of bird 

 and in no way differs from the Coppy in contour, its head only requiring special description, 

 which we will give at once, as it is the base on which good crested formation is developed. 

 A Plainhead skull, then, should be large, flat, and very broad — a little table-land, in fact ; 

 indeed, it cannot have these features too largely developed. Not content with mere width of 

 skull, it should also have heavy, overhanging eyebrows ; and in place of the neat, short feather 

 which gives finish to the head of all other Canaries, the presence of a redundant crop, as if 

 with very little encouragement it would grow into crest, is a desirable feature. The expression 

 as the bird peers out from under its drooping brows is stolid and sulky, rather than sprightly, 

 with a seeming consciousness of power and supreme contempt for things mundane. It is withal 

 a phlegmatic bird, and not given to indulging in those hop, step, and jump e.Kcrcises from 

 which other Canaries derive great apparent satisfaction. Such a skull as we have described 

 is, in the Coppy, thatched with a large crest somewhat differing in shape from what we find 

 in other crested Canaries. It is not in all cases so large as might be expected from the great 

 size of the bird, but is invariably very neat, having a well-placed centre, good circular frontage, 

 and regularly radiating feather. In respect to shape, the difference to which we refer consists 



